Circular-knitting machine



Patented Mar. 31, 1931 UNITED srA'r TET OFFIQE CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINE Application filed April 12, 19:28, Serial No. 269,568, and in Great Britain Gctober 15, 1927.

The present invention comprises improvements in circular knitting machines of the type embodying a series of displaceable thread guides, a rotary cam device operating 5 to displace the guides to lay threads on the machine needles, and jacquard mechanism for effecting a variable selection of the guides to be operated by said cam.

The principal object of the invention is to provide new or improved means for controlling and selecting the guides from the jacquard.

According to the present invention the jacquards are caused to operate upon mem bers carried by the guides, there being one of such members for each guide to be, operated, and to displace the selected members relatively to the guides to cause them-t0 be operated by the rotating cam device.

For the purpose of more fully describing the nature of this invention reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a vertical section through a part of a circular knitting machine in accordance with this invention. 7

Figure 2 is a detail sectional elevation showing a-modification of the invention.

In the method of carrying out the invention illustrated in the drawings, to an outstanding ring or flange 1 suitably secured by a central hollow boss to a stationary sleeve member 2 are mounted depending thread guides 3 arranged in a circular row, the lower or feeding ends of the guides being disposed approximately level with the hooks of needles 4 when the latter are raised to take thread. The guides 3 are suspended in the known manner by their hooked ends 3a engaging within holes or slots in the ring 1 so as to be capable of a radial oscillatory movement for moving the lower ends from an inoperative position inside the needles to a feeding position exterior to said needles, the springy nature of the guides effecting the opposite movement thereof and normally maintaining same within the needle row. A second ring or disc 1a may be installed for holding the hooked ends of the guides in position.

On a rotatable tubular spindle 5 which turns within the sleeve 2 about a central fixed spindle 5a is secured a cam 6 preferably comprising a flanged collar with circumferential projection or cam bit.

In one embodiment of the invention each depending thread guide 3 is furnished with an inwardly projecting member 7 constituting a butt having pivotal connection with the guide and to each butt to be operated a jacquard string 8 is connected. The arrangement is such that upon a guide 3 being selected by the jacquard to lay thread, the butt member 7 pivoted to the guide is drawn up- After being selected by the jacquard and operated upon by the cam device'6, the butts 7 pivoted to the guides are adapted to be moved to their normal or inoperative position and such movement is conveniently effected by a cam device hereinafter described.

The arrangement is preferably such that the said pivoted butts associated with the guides are operated in groups or sections. In practice it has been found convenient to operate such butts in two groups or sections each of which extends around one half the circumference of the machine, and for this purpose two jacquard devices are advantageously employed.

Each jacquard device may be of the well known construction embodying a chain of perforated cards 10 adapted to travel over a carrier 11 of polygonal section, which carrier is intermittently rotated and intermittently moved towards and away from a series of sliding pins 12. Each pin is connected by a string 8 to one of the pivoted butts 7 on the guide 3 he arra g ment is such that the pins 12 which are selected and displaced by the jacquards effect by their movement the raising of the butts 7 connected thereto so as to bring said butts into the path of the rotary cam 6 and cause the guides associated with said raised butt-s to be radially displaced to a thread feeding position.

Each jacquard is adapted to operate in connection with one half of the circular row of thread guides, and means are incorporated for operating the jacquards in succession. Preferably this successive operation of the j acquards is effected through link and lever mechanism from a single rotary cam device having two diametrically opposed cam rises.

The apparatus for returning the pivoted guide butts 7 to their normal or neutral position below the path of cam 6 may convenientlycomprise two semi-circular ring members 13 positioned immediately above the butts or upstanding portions thereof and moved downwardly in succession by a rotating cam device. This cam device may comprise an outstanding roller 1% carried by a rotating collar l5,saicL roller being caused to ride in succession over two cam rises 16 each of which is formed on or carried by a plate 17 mounted at the top of vertically guided posts 18 which are connected at their lower ends to one of the semi-circular members 13. The return, i. e. upward movement of each semicircular member 13 is conveniently effected by springs 19. V

For stability, the guides 3 preferably operate within vertical tricks 20, said tricks also accommodating portions of the butts 7.

For facilitating assembly, the position at which the pivoted butts are connected to the guides may be staggered, that is to say, the pivoted members may be connected to adj acent guides in different planes.

In a preferred embodiment (Figure 2) the displaceable guide butts 7a instead of being pivoted as are the butts 7 in Fig. 1 are carried by small sleeve or collar portions 21 which are slidable upon the guides 3a, each buttsleeve 21 having a small projecting eye 22 or its equivalent to which the acquard string 8 is connected. In this arrangement the butt is raised and lowered vertically on the guide, the lowering of the butts being effected by cam-actuated ring sections 13 as before described which act upon inwardly projecting fingers 28 on the butt sleeves 21.

A spring 24 encircling each guide 3a above the butt sleeve may also be provided for assisting in the return of the butt to its normal position. V

The number of guides employed varies in accordance with the pattern to be produced.

I claim:

1. In a circular knitting machine, a series of displaceable thread guides, a rotary cam device operating to displace said guides to lay threads on the machine needles, members carried by and movable relatively to said guides, and jacquard mechanism operating to displace selected members relatively to said guides so as to cause the guides to be operated by the rotating cam.

2. In a circular knitting machine, a series of displaceable thread guides, a rotary cam device operating to displace said guides to lay threads on the machine needles, butts carried by and projecting laterally from and movable relatively to said guides, there being one movable butt for each guide, and jacquard mechanism connected to said movable butts and operating to displace selected butts on the guides from a neutral position to a position in the plane of the rotary cam device.

3. In a circular knitting machine, a series of depending displaceable thread guides, a rotary cam device operating to displace said guides to lay threads on the machine needles, a laterally projecting butt on each guide, said butt being movable relatively to said guide, jacquard mechanism, a separate flexible connection between each movable butt and said jacquard mechanism, said guide butts being selectively displaced by the jacquard mechanism from aneutral position to a positlon 1n the path of the rotary cam device,

and means for positively returning the dis-- tion to a position in the path of the rotarycam device and enable selected guides to be radially displaced by said cam to a position for feeding thread to the machine needles, and means for returning the displaced guide butts to their neutral position subsequent to each operation thereon by the jacquards.

5. In a circular knitting machine, a series of depending displaceable thread guides, a rotary cam device operating to displace said guides to lay threads on the machine needles, a laterally projecting butt on each guide, said buttbeing movable relatively to said guide, a plurality of jacquard devices, means for successively operating said jacquards, each jacquard being connected to and functioning selectively todisplace the butts of a separate group or series of guides so as to move said selected butts from a neutral position to a positionin the path of the rotary cam device and enable selected guides to be radially displaced by said cam to a position for feed' thread to the machine needles, a plurality or independently movable members each at 1 ed to coact with the displaceable butts of one of the said separably operable group or ser of guides, cam device functioning successively to displace said independently mo"- able members so as positively to. rat 7 guide butts to a neutral or inoperative p tion after disolacemcnt by the acquards, spring means functioning to return the movable butt-engaging members to a position out of contact with said butts after operation thereon.

6. In a circular knitting machine, a series of depending radially displaceable thread guides, a rotary cam device operating to displace said guides radially to lay threads on the machine needles, a laterally projecting butt slidably mounted on each guide, jacquard mechanism connected to each sliding butt and functioning at intervals to raise selected butts from a neutral position to a position in the path oi the rotary cam device so as to cause said cam to impart radial movement through said selected butts to the guides carrying same, and means for lowering the raised butts subsequent to the action thereon of the cam.

7. In a circular knitting machine, a series of depending radially displaceable thread guides, a rotary cam device operating to displace said guides radially to lay threads on the machine needles, a laterally project.- ing butt slidably mounted on each guide, jacquard mechanism connected to each sliding butt and functioning at intervals to raise selected of said butts from a neutral position to a position in the path of the'rotary cam device so as to cause said cam to impart radial movement through said selected butts to the guides carrying same, vertically movable means adapted to coact with parts of said sliding butts, a cam device operating to depress said vertically sliding means and lower the selectively raised butts to a neutral position after the rotary cam'has acted upon said butts, and spring means functioning to raise said vertically movable butt-lowering means after depression thereof by said cam device.

8. In a circular knitting machine, a series of depending radially displaceable thread guides, a rotary cam device operating to displace said guides radially to lay threads on the machine needles, a laterally projecting butt slidably mounted on each guide, aplurality of jacquard devices, means for successively operating said jacquards, each jacquard being connected to and functioning selectively to raise the sliding butts appertaining to a separate group or series of guides so as to move said selected butts into the 

